How to achieve longevity in university-industry partnerships: An industry take on collaboration boosters
Building enduring university-industry partnerships isn’t just about how long they last – it’s about creating collaborations that genuinely thrive and continue adding value for both sides over time. For industry, making this happen means focusing on strategic alignment, building trust, staying flexible, and always aiming for mutual benefits. You can’t just inject these like Botox – it requires the same ingredients as personal longevity does: consistent investment, plenty of attention, and proper care.
Nevertheless, questions such as “To what extent can research results be converted into practical solutions?”, “How can we prevent partnership agreements from becoming mere formalities?”, “Where should one look when seeking collaborative engagements?” and “How can we assess the value created by these engagements?” remain pressing and challenging (and while I primarily aim to speak from an industry perspective, I often find myself switching between both – a work habit I picked up over the years!).
Defining a joint engagement agenda
Although it may seem trivial, the foundation of any long-term successful partnership is a shared goal agreement. This agreement should be as specific as possible, covering not only the agreed-upon areas and activities of collaboration but also details about planned investments. Both partners need a reliable foundation to extract the maximum benefit from their partnership.
Over the more than 15 years I have worked at the intersection of business and academia, I have seen enough agreements that end up forgotten in a drawer after their ceremonial signing.
Natascha Eckert, Academia-Business Advisor and Former Global Head of University Relations at Siemens
A strong goal agreement should include:
- Jointly established objectives
- The definition of a framework that governs the collaboration, i.e., appropriate structures and processes
- Clear expectation management
This also involves determining the scope of the collaboration: Will the focus be on a specific faculty, the entire institution, or even the university’s broader innovation ecosystem? Should the joint research and education efforts revolve around mutually defined thematic priorities? Or will the collaboration leverage the full research strength of an institution, including spin-offs and partnerships with other research and educational organisations?
Agreeing on goals also means regularly reviewing their achievement, or lack thereof. This review should occur at the project or individual engagement level, and especially in the case of strategic partnerships, at the top management level.
In my experience, involving as many stakeholders as possible proves most effective, as these can be quite diverse at both the industry and university levels. Moreover, including representatives who draft the cooperation agreements in the strategic discussions early on (e.g., “What do we aim to achieve with a strategic partnership? How do we want to collaborate? What are we willing to invest?”) can save significant time during the negotiation process.
Perspective matters: How to manage multi-lateral engagements?
University-industry collaboration (UIC) is, fundamentally, a matter of perspective. For industry, universities serve as partners in research, education, and standardisation. They are also sources of talent, providers of data and infrastructure, societal thought leaders, and advisors. From the university’s standpoint, industry acts as a practical and innovation partner with the all-important “real world challenges”, an employer and supporter of talent, as well as a mentor and advisor.
These roles are multifaceted and often managed by entirely different stakeholders. For instance:
- Industry to universities: Companies supporting universities with hardware or software for educational purposes typically engage with different staff than those seeking IT graduates for recruitment.
- Universities to industry: Institutions aiming to partner with corporations to develop sustainable campus concepts will rarely deal with the same stakeholders as a professor exploring practical applications for doctoral research.
One of the biggest barriers to seamless collaboration is the fragmented nature of both parties. On the industry side, responsibility for UIC may fall under Corporate R&D, HR, or other departments, depending on the type of collaboration. Universities face similar complexities, with expertise and decision-making distributed across faculties, research centres, and administrative offices. This dispersion often means that neither side has a clear understanding of who is responsible for what, how to locate the appropriate contacts, or the full range of competencies and offerings the other party can provide.
The ideal of a single point of contact – a “one-stop-shop” for managing university-industry partnerships – remains elusive for many organisations. The complexity of structures on both sides makes it challenging to centralise relationship management in a meaningful way.
Natascha Eckert, Academia-Business Advisor and Former Global Head of University Relations at Siemens
Digital tools and platforms can aid in navigating this complexity by facilitating matchmaking between potential partners, cataloguing competencies, offerings, and points of contact, or streamlining communication channels.
However, while these platforms can improve efficiency, they cannot entirely replace the need for human interaction. Successful partnerships still depend on human intelligence (i.e., the ability to understand nuance, adapt to evolving needs, and foster connections) and partnership chemistry (i.e., the intangible trust, rapport, and shared vision that make collaborations thrive).
Partnership management needs commitment
Bridge-builders, intermediaries, and account managers play a pivotal role in fostering collaboration between industry, universities and the broader research community. Yet, these roles often face significant threats. In times of increasing cost pressures, especially in the corporate sector, they are often the first to be cut – whether on the industry side or among university staff managing these partnerships.
The value of systematic and strategic partnership management to an institution should not be determined by Corporate R&D or HR alone. It is a matter that demands the attention of top management.
If your organisation values…
- Systematic talent acquisition: Access to top-tier emerging talent before competitors
- Early engagement with emerging technologies: Positioning themselves at the forefront of transformative trends
- Strengthening the employer brand: Enhancing the perception of the company’s culture, innovation capacity, and societal relevance
… then you cannot afford to overlook the importance of strategic collaboration with academic and non-academic research institutions.
This requires a committed approach, including:
- Dedicated human resources: Skilled professionals who are focused on managing and expanding these partnerships
- Appropriate budgets: Financial investment to ensure that these programs, projects, and joint initiatives thrive
- Attention from management: Active involvement and prioritisation from leadership to embed partnerships into the organisational strategy
Effective partnership management is not an optional luxury – it is a strategic imperative. By investing in the people and resources that drive collaboration, companies can secure a competitive edge, foster innovation, and build enduring relationships with the academic world. In short, commitment to partnership management now is an investment in the future.
The anatomy of a new hype: Dissecting impact
Impact — it’s the buzzword of the moment, promising significance, influence, and tangible change. Everyone wants to generate impact: for business, for society, and even for the world. But what exactly does “impact” mean, and how do we measure it?
The notion that research seamlessly translates into innovative products or measurable business outcomes is seductive, albeit oversimplified. In practice, the journey from discovery to implementation is complex, nonlinear, and often intangible. How, for instance, can we determine the precise contribution of a single algorithm to a company’s revenue growth? The ideal of quantifiable, sales-based royalties often proves impractical in real-world partnerships.
That being said, there is no shortage of measurable outputs in collaborative endeavours:
- Patents: A clear marker of innovation
- Joint publications: Indicators of shared intellectual effort
- Funded research projects: Evidence of external validation
- Internships and hires: Tangible benefits for students and organisations
- Start-ups and job creation: Direct economic contributions
These metrics provide valuable insights but capture only part of the story. Impact often extends beyond what numbers can quantify. Consider also the role of:
- Knowledge transfer: Through advisory roles, panel participation, and industry professorships
- Collaborative dialogues: Informal discussions that shape ideas and strategies
- Network effects: Relationships that catalyse opportunities but defy measurement
These forms of impact, while profound, resist simplistic evaluation. Counting them as isolated occurrences risks undervaluing their broader influence.
To truly harness the power of impact, it must be carefully defined. Specificity is key – impact must be contextual, measurable where possible, and assessed with nuance. Importantly, the evaluation of impact should never become an end in itself. The process requires thoughtful application of both quantitative and qualitative methods, guided by human intelligence and judgment.
This all circles back to the first key factor: clear objectives are essential for developing effective measures and KPIs.
How to make love last forever: The way forward
How can a strategic partnership be kept healthy and robust in the long term? Beyond all the strategic and more formal elements, the human component must always remain central. Even long-term partnerships go through their highs and lows; building them takes time, and only time fosters the necessary unwavering trust. The best collaborative projects I have experienced were those where the lines blurred – who is the industry researcher, and who is the scientist? – and coordination happened over a quick call instead of micromanaging milestone plans.
For industry, it also means being willing to invest, even if the payoff isn’t immediate. Investments are not just about money; they also require dedicated (management) attention. As an old-timer in the field, I can tell you that it’s worth every penny if you truly want to establish a resilient pipeline of innovation, talent, and branding.
Ready for more?
This article is part of The Hidden Engine of Innovation: University-Industry Partnerships in Action, UIIN’s new casebook showcasing 15 stories of successful university–industry collaboration from around the world. Packed with insights, strategies and real-world examples, the full book is exclusively available to UIIN members, but you can download the teaser version here and explore how partnerships are driving talent, innovation and impact.
Natascha Eckert (author) is an Academia-Business Advisor and Former Global Head of University Relations at Siemens. A strategically oriented executive, Natascha brings extensive experience leading innovation and technology-driven teams at Siemens AG and OSRAM GmbH. She was previously responsible for Siemens Research and Innovation Ecosystem, Siemens AG’s strategic partner program. Now a Senior Consultant specialising in academic-business translation and advising international universities, an angel investor, and a mentor for women in tech. Natascha also serves as a Senior Fellow at UIDP and sits on the UIIN Advisory Board.
